National Blog

Ted Cruz: No Senator Who Takes Oath Seriously Should Vote For Lynch

Senator Ted Cruz recently took to the pages of Politico to explain why he opposes Loretta Lynch's nomination for Attorney General:

When asked how she would be different from Eric Holder—the most partisan attorney general our nation has ever seen—she could identify no meaningful way she would differ from him.

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When asked if she agreed with the Holder Justice Department’s view (rejected unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court) that the government could place a GPS sensor on the car of every American, without probable cause … she refused to answer.

When asked if she agreed with the Holder Justice Department’s view (also rejected unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court) that the First Amendment gives no protection whatsoever to a church’s or synagogue’s choice of pastor or rabbi … she refused to answer.

When asked at her hearing if she believed the federal government could employ a drone to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, if that citizen posed no imminent threat … she refused to answer.

And when asked if she would be willing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s targeting of citizens for their political views—a prosecutor who was not a major Obama donor, as is the current lawyer leading the “investigation” … she refused to answer.

This is breathtaking—and brazen.

No senator who takes his or her oath of office seriously should vote to confirm such a nominee.

And Senate Republicans have all the authority we need to reject this nomination.

Two paths are available: First, if every Senate Republican on the Judiciary Committee votes no, the nominee will be rejected. Alas, to date, two Republicans have said publicly they will vote yes, and a third has strongly suggested he will as well.

Second, regardless of where the committee votes might be, Republican Leadership could simply decide not to report the nomination to the floor. If Leadership did so, the nomination would be rejected—and there is no procedural mechanism for Democrats to change the outcome.

Unfortunately, Leadership is loath to do so. It would somehow be “unfriendly” to do so. Nonsense. We should, of course, always be respectful. But there is a reason the Senate is given constitutional authority over “advice and consent.” We were not elected to be a “fraternal order,” as Reagan famously put it. Rather, we were elected to defend the Constitution.

Some argue that rejecting Ms. Lynch’s nomination would just keep Eric Holder in office. It is true that Holder has abused the office, turning a Department of Justice that had built a long bipartisan tradition of impartially enforcing the law into effectively a partisan arm of the Democratic Party. And he has repeatedly ignored the law and the Constitution, so much so that he is the only attorney general in history to be held in contempt of Congress.

But Holder’s lawless behavior occurred after he was confirmed. It is altogether different for the Senate to confirm a nominee who tells us ahead of time she will ignore the law. If the Senate does so, we are complicit in the lawlessness.

Senate Republicans have the power to stop this nomination. And we have a choice. We can honor our oaths to the Constitution—we can defend liberty and the rule of law—or we can confirm an attorney general who has candidly admitted she will impose no limits on the President whatsoever.

When asked if she agreed with the Holder Justice Department’s view (rejected unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court) that the government could place a GPS sensor on the car of every American, without probable cause … she refused to answer.

When asked if she agreed with the Holder Justice Department’s view (also rejected unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court) that the First Amendment gives no protection whatsoever to a church’s or synagogue’s choice of pastor or rabbi … she refused to answer.

When asked at her hearing if she believed the federal government could employ a drone to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, if that citizen posed no imminent threat … she refused to answer.

And when asked if she would be willing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s targeting of citizens for their political views—a prosecutor who was not a major Obama donor, as is the current lawyer leading the “investigation” … she refused to answer.

This is breathtaking—and brazen.

No senator who takes his or her oath of office seriously should vote to confirm such a nominee.